Abstract:
Acrocomia aculeata is a tree palm spe-
cies widely distributed throughout the Neotropics,
from Mexico to Argentina including some Carib-
bean islands. The oil from the fruit is used for bio-
diesel production, human consumption, and bio-
mass fuel. Despite the need to better understand its
genetic diversity for commercial use and conser-
vation, genetic diversity and structure knowledge f this species is scarce in Mesoamerica. We used
microsatellite markers to analyze 185 samples of A.
aculeata, from 18 sampling sites, that essentially cov-
ered geographic distribution of this species in Costa
Rica. We found low genetic diversity across sampling
sites, with He values below 0.50 which, is lower than
diversity levels found in South America. Interest-
ingly, samples collected in the national parks Santa
Rosa and Rincon de la Vieja National exhibited the
highest genetic diversity (He
=
0.42 and He
=
0.50,
respectively). The 18 sampling sites were structured in three clusters. Cluster A contains samples collected
in the lower northwestern Pacific, Central Pacific, and
Central Region of Costa Rica. Cluster B consisted of
samples from sites in the upper northwestern Pacific.
Cluster C contains samples from the southeastern
Pacific region, being largely separated from Clusters
A and B which was supported by the highest differ-
entiation coefficients. This is the first large genetic
diversity study of A. aculeata in Mesoamerica; there-
fore, our results serve as reference for future studies
on germplasm diversity studies in this region and a
baseline for future conservation and management
efforts of A. aculeata.
